China's slowing economy: the view from the Henan heartland

Considered the cradle of Chinese civilization, the central province of Henan and its 100 million-strong population typifies China's transformative yet often tumultuous economic ascent.

Long the sort of impoverished backwater that people left in search of better lives, Henan has in recent years enjoyed the fruits of an economic boom that has raised incomes and given people a taste of middle class lifestyles and aspirations.

19 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

LED lights in the pavement illuminate the square in front of a high speed railway station in the new business district of Zhengzhou.

Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, was transformed into a transportation and logistics hub complete with a futuristic skyline and luxury malls, crisscrossed with freeways and connected by high-speed rail to more affluent cities like Beijing and Shanghai. A vast Foxconn factory in the city, employs almost a quarter of a million people and churns out most of the world's iPhones.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Locals and retired workers watch a Chinese opera performance that Xinyuan Steel put on outside its factory to mark the end of Chinese New Year festivities.

However, the gains achieved in Henan and other inland provinces appear fragile, as living and housing costs rise, and China's economy slows. That is threatening the aspirations of a generation of young Chinese in cities like Zhengzhou.

The slowdown also undermines one of the government's main hopes for transforming the economy by spurring domestic spending, as well as spreading wealth to the interior of China, which has long lagged the coastal regions that gave birth to China's four-decades-long economic boom.

21 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters

Reuters reporters travelled to six cities across Henan, from bustling Zhengzhou to the smog-choked industrial hub of Anyang in the north, interviewing dozens of residents from all walks to life to document how the economic slowdown feels in the heart of China.

Left: Fishermen Sun Lianxi, 32, and Sun Genxi, 44, travel down the Yellow River to cast their net. For generations, the Suns plied their fishing boats up and down the Huai and Yellow Rivers, living off their daily catch. Like their grandfather and father before them, brothers were born on a fishing boat. China's economic ascent has tantalised the brothers. "These high-rise buildings have nothing to do with me. They're for others, not me," Lianxi says. "We don't have any part in it." Right: The son of Sun Lianxi walks among the debris of their former housing. The Suns were owners of a large houseboat, enough to accommodate their clan of 17 spanning four generations under one weather-beaten roof. But as part of a broad-ranging environmental crackdown, local authorities in 2017 took over the houseboat in the name of minimising water pollution and over-fishing. With nowhere to go, the Suns erected temporary housing on the riverside but that too was swiftly dismantled by authorities. The Suns now live in tents of tarpaulin and plastic sheets by a floating bridge on the banks of the Yellow River, reduced to fishing from a small dinghy.

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They reported on some of the crucial issues facing Henan, and the broader Chinese economy: a property boom that appears to be coming to an end; a slump in consumer spending; an anti-pollution campaign that has had a crippling economic impact on many cities and towns, even as their people are breathing more easily; and the undermining of dreams of upward social mobility.

Slideshow

People play with ice floats at a pond in the compound of an apartment complex in Zhengzhou.

21 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Fisherman Sun Lianxi drops his net into the waters of the Yellow River.

21 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Jiejie Li, wife of Sun Lianxi, prepares food on a wood stove in their makeshift dwelling at the Yellow River embankment.

19 Jan 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Workers eat lunch near the construction site of apartment buildings near the new stadium in Zhengzhou.

20 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Interior designer Zhang Chenxuan, who has run an interior design business in Zhengzhou for seven years, poses in an apartment his company is fitting out in a high-rise. Zhang's income has shrunk by 20-30 percent since last year as orders from new home buyers fell, he said. "Clients nowadays only want something practical and simple, that saves money, instead of going for the luxurious," Zhang said. "Eighty percent of my customers now complain that they are very poor, that they don't have the money for proper furnishings."

22 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Zhao Na, 29, a real estate agent, poses for pictures in an upscale showroom apartment. "When I am flush, I am happy to part with money," said Zhao, who once splurged around 60,000 yuan ($9,000) on a clutch of handbags during a trip to Paris in 2017. "Spending makes me happy." But with China's economy slowing, Zhao's business has hit a wall and her income has plummeted, forcing her to shelve that source of happiness. "Not being able to spend money as I like makes me feel lousy, but I cannot do much about it," she said.

21 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

People leave the high speed railway station on a hazy morning in Zhengzhou.

22 Jan 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A man waits at a bus stop at a high speed railway station in Zhengzhou.

22 Feb 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

LED lights in the pavement illuminate the square in front of a high speed railway station in the new business district of Zhengzhou.

19 Jan 2019. Zhengzhou, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A deliveryman leans against a cart outside a wholesale market in central Zhengzhou.

18 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Smoke stacks and cooling towers of a power plant rise above a low-rise neighbourhood that borders a steel plant in Anyang.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Locals wait for the start of a Chinese opera performance that Xinyuan Steel put on for locals and employees to mark the end of Chinese New Year festivities in Anyang.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A worker watches a Chinese opera performance.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A retired worker watches a Chinese opera performance.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A performer of a travelling Chinese opera troupe puts on her make-up before playing a show.

19 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Locals and retired workers leave after a Chinese opera performance.

18 Feb 2019. Anyang, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

A man walks past the vehicle repair shop of Wang Junchang which is located opposite a steel plant.

22 Feb 2019. Lankao, China. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Men ride a scooter past a poster showing Chinese President Xi Jinping on the side of a school building in a newly developed part of Lankao County.